The United Nations warns that climate disasters are occurring weekly, with disaster reports urging developing countries to prepare for significant impacts. Climate disasters are happening at a weekly rate, yet they rarely attract international attention, and developing countries urgently need to prepare for the impacts, the UN warns. While cyclones like Idai that struck Mozambique and Kenneth, and the drought in India, have made international headlines, most “low-impact events” causing casualties, displacement, and damage are occurring much faster than expected. “This isn’t about the future, it’s about the present,” said Mami Mizutori, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction. This means that addressing the climate crisis is no longer a long-term issue, but something that must be addressed now. She stated, “People must talk more about resilience and endurance.” Climate-related disasters are estimated to cost $520 billion annually, but funding for infrastructure to combat the effects of global warming accounts for only 3%, or $2.7 trillion over the next 20 years. Mizutori stated, "This isn't a huge amount of money (in terms of infrastructure spending), but investors aren't doing enough. Resilience needs to become a commodity people will buy." This means that new infrastructure standards need to be normalized, such as housing, road and rail systems, factories, and electricity and water supply networks, making them less vulnerable to flooding, droughts, hurricanes, and extreme weather. Until now, much of the work on the climate crisis has focused on "mitigation"—the rhetoric of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, not on mitigating climate change.
